Lost Souls
by DWMizu
Summary: Lydia goes on an after graduation camping trip somewhere in northern New York. But something isn't right about this place - can Lydia and Beetlejuice unravel this mystery? Rated T. My first fanfic, please R&R.
1. Chapter 1

(A/N: This is my first fanfic on here. I realize it probably needs work, so suggestions are more than welcome. Also, this fic is based on the cartoonverse, several years later. Read and review, I certainly hope you enjoy.)

"Lydia, your bus is going to be here any moment!" came the annoying, sing-song voice of Delia Deetz.

Lydia groaned as she hefted her pack and sleeping bag. It was on cusp of summer, her school had arranged for her senior class to take a camping trip somewhere up north for their After Graduation party. Lydia had figured, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but then again, having to deal with Claire Brewster for a whole week, out in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey, babes, where ya goin'?" a voice sounded in Lydia's ear, making her jump.  
"Beetlejuice!"  
"That's my name," he grinned, "how about saying it a couple more times"  
"I can't, Beej, I have to leave," she shifted her weight, her pack already weighing heavily on her, "I'm going on a school camping trip."  
"Camping?!" Beetlejuice reappeared, wearing striped shorts, a mauve shirt, and a tattered sun hat. "I LOVE camping! The great outdoors, the fresh air, the BUGS!"  
Lydia laughed. "It's my senior class trip. Apparently, going to New York was out of the school's budget. I don't see how," she added thoughtfully, "it IS a private school, after all... you'd think they would be able to afford such a thing..."  
"Who cares?!" Beetlejuice transformed into a striped umbrella, "Take me with you! I could use the free food!"  
Lydia sighed. "Oh... all right. Why not? It's not like you'll cause too much trouble... I hope."

The bus bumped along the country road, sending the graduates bouncing around in their seats. Lydia sat towards the back,  
behind her friends Bertha and Prudence. The two of them were talking excitedly about where they were going to go to school - Bertha to some college in Chicago, and Prudence, to Ivy League. Lydia hadn't decided where she was going to go, except that it would be somewhere in New York, preferably a school for the arts, majoring in photography. She didn't care which school - she missed New York.

The thought was interrupted when a very loud, very obnoxious Claire Brewster shrieked at her.

"Like, Lydia's going to be the major failure of the class," she said, her nose always a tad bit too high, "I'm, like, going to UCLA next fall, and I'm going to become a star!"

"Gee, Claire, are you ever going to get a life?" Lydia replied, "I mean, you must not have much of one, if you're so concerned about mine."  
Laughter erupted as Claire let out her trademark "HMPH!", and sat back in her seat.

"So, this place we're going to. I hear it's haunted."  
"Haunted? Heh, don't believe in that stuff."  
Lydia's ears perked. The two kids in the seat across the aisle from her were whispering heatedly. Haunted campgrounds? Sounds interesting. Unless Jason Voorhees was involved. But she doubted that.  
"Some say it's a place where lost souls gather."  
A faint pop sounded on Lydia's shoulder. "I doubt that. They have places in the Neitherworld for that."  
Beetlejuice lounged there, snacking on a beetle. "So, Lyds, whaddya think it's about?"  
"Not sure, Beej," she whispered back, "but I'm eager to find out. Maybe it's someone who has yet to pass over."  
"Or it could be someone setting up prank," he replied, rubbing his hands together excitedly. That stopped short when they suddenly caught fire. "Whoops. Heh, always knew I was a bit hot."  
"Elaborate prank..." Lydia added thoughtfully.

"Did you hear what was said about this camp?" Bertha asked Lydia as she and Prudence were setting up their pup tents.

Lydia had a tent to herself - she didn't mind. It allowed her to have her privacy, and gave her a chance to talk to Beetlejuice in private. "Yeah, sounds pretty freaky, doesn't it?" she replied, finishing her tent. "I can't wait to check it out."  
"A, are you sure about that, Lydia?" Prudence asked in a small voice, "Th, this place gives me the creeps"  
Lydia opened her mouth to answer, but stopped. A strange sound carried in the wind - a moaning sound, but nothing like what Lydia had ever heard. It sent chills up her spine. As she hugged herself, trying to fight off the goosebumps, a large gust of wind, cold as the arctic, blew through the camp. Before anyone could react, it was gone as fast as it came.  
Bertha gave them a forced smile. "Well. That... was interesting."  
"Yeah," Lydia laughed, "it... it was, wasn't it?"

Darkness had fallen around them. It was time to turn in, but Lydia just couldn't shake the uneasy feeling that had clutched at her heart after hearing that sound. Something was wrong, very, _very_ wrong, but she couldn't put her finger on it. She chuckled softly. Maybe the thought that the place was supposedly corrupted by lost souls bothered her. But still, any haunted place that she'd visited before never bothered her, but... this place was different.  
"Beej?" she whispered, wondering if the poltergeist was still there.  
"Right here, babes," he began, sitting on her shoulder, just out of sight, "...what's up?"  
Lydia wrung at her hands."I don't know," she began, "but something isn't right, at all." She peered out of her tent.

Almost all of the other tents, save for Bertha and Prudence's, had long since put their lights out for the night. And it wasn't long before they had put their light out, leaving the campground looking very eerie - a graveyard of tents in the fog.  
"Lyds, whaddya going to do?" Beetlejuice asked, still perched on her shoulder.  
"...I think... I'm going to walk around for a bit," she replied slowly, uncertainly. She didn't know why, exactly, she wanted to walk around in this creepy place - only that... she HAD to. She wanted to find out just what that was.  
Something wasn't right... and she wasn't going to rest until she figured it out.  
She crept out of her tent, carefully zipped it up behind her, and ventured towards the woods.  
"We should be careful, Lyds..." Beetlejuice whispered, as they were swallowed up by the darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N: Well, here's chapter 2. This part was based on a strange dream I had once. I figured it'd work well here.)**

Lydia glanced around her. All was dark, save for the ghostly moonlight that shone through the breaks in the trees. The eerie atmosphere grew heavier as more and more fog settled in the wooded area. Lydia had the sensation that someone, or something, was watching her - and that made her feel even more uncomfortable. "Lyds... something's not right. I should come out."

She looked towards Beetlejuice, whom was half-hiding behind her hair.  
"Beetlejuice,  
"Beetlejuice,  
"BEETLEJUICE!"

A soft pop next to her signaled his arrival. Now full-sized, he was shaking slightly, but his voice was calm.  
"Babes..." he whispered.  
She turned to look at him. His face, usually grinning and laughing, was solemn, and maybe, there was a hint of fear.  
"Beej... what's wrong?"  
"It's as I thought, Babes. I can't juice anything... at all."

Lydia's eyes grew wide. "Can't juice anything?! Is that even possible? Then... how did you even get here?!" She stared back at him, his eyes gazing in wonder at something behind her.  
"Lyds... look!"  
A rundown building, made of rusted sheet metal, had somehow suddenly emerged from the darkness. There was no door, or rather, not a proper one. Instead,  
it resembled a door-less garage, with a wall missing. Staring into it, the darkness grew denser and denser as the building stretched on.

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Beetlejuice whispered. He took one step toward the building and froze.  
"What?" Lydia gasped, the cold surrounding them, "What is it?"  
"Babes... whatever this is, it's not of this world, or the Neitherworld."  
"Wait... what?"  
Beetlejuice turned to her, his face sullen. This wasn't like him, not at all. "This... isn't of this world, or the Neitherworld. This... there's a ton of spirits here."  
"I kind of figured that, they say this place is haunted." Lydia replied, "but... not of this world? Or the Neitherworld? What do you mean exactly?"

"Lydia!" A faint voice on the breeze sounded. "Lydia! Where are you?!" Another voice ran out.  
"Bertha? Prudence?!" Lydia called back, not sure if they could even hear her. The fog swirled around her, incredibly dense, now, that, Lydia thought, if she took out her knife, she would probably cut through it. She ran towards the voices, catching them every so often.  
"BABES! WAIT!" Beetlejuice cried, but she continued running into the fog, towards the voices of her friends.  
"Lydia?! Lydia!!"  
"Where are you, Lydia?!"

She cut through the underbrush, branches whipping at her face. She screamed, but no sound came out. Her hands to her mouth, she looked around in confusion.  
The building was still right behind her, as if she never moved. Beetlejuice was nowhere to be seen.  
"Beetlejuice?" she mouthed, still no sound. She crept toward the building, looking to see if the poltergeist was inside. Next thing she knew, a wall sprang up behind her, closing her in.  
Lydia ran towards the wall, beating on it, trying to get it to open, mouthing silent curses. She collasped, crying, lost, scared, and no sign of Beetlejuice anywhere.

After about a minute, she slowly got up, and took in her surroundings. The building stretched on in darkness in front of her, as if inviting her to dare try to penetrate it. She noted that she was wearing her Neitherworld attire - she wondered how on earth that happened. Hesitating, she made her way forward, stepping around scrap metal and broken objects, making her way into the darkness.

"Lydiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!" Beetlejuice called. He stood in the middle of the woods, unsure as to how he got there. One minute, he was next to the building, the next, he was standing in the woods, the creepy building nowhere in sight.  
He had a slight idea of what could be going on. The only other time he'd experienced a feeling such as this was when Juno had shown him the Lost Souls room in her office. Death for the dead. It's one thing to die once, something else to die twice.

He gulped in fear. If this was very similar to the Lost Souls room, then they were in trouble. He wasn't too worried about himself. He was worried about Lydia. She still had her life in this world ahead of her, and for it to... to.  
He shook his head. No, no time to think about that. She's lost in here, somewhere, and he was going to find her, even if it took him the entirety of his afterlife to do so. The wood grew darker as he trekked, running, tripping, getting whacked by some branches.  
Damn. His luck had been really good. Once.

"LYYYYYYYYYYDS!" he called out, on the top of his non-working lungs, the only response being his echo ringing cruelly through the trees.

Lydia was still in the building, catching a few glimpses of the outside through several high windows set in the scrap metal walls. The moonlight from said windows were the only things lighting her way through a sea of scrap, junk, and broken things. She could hear a scurrying sound in the background;  
a feeling of dread told her they were probably rats. And not the usual kind, either.  
She was lost in one of these thoughts when she walked through it - a cold spot. Cold enough that she could see her breath in front of her, and for a moment,  
she wondered if she had stopped breathing. It swirled around her, her surroundings taking on an unearthly green light. A soft, low moan sounded in her ear,  
making her jump. She passed through it, her insides still cold, her flesh dotted with goose bumps. She turned around slowly, and saw a face. A face of a man, long dead, floating in mid air, glowing bright green. He moaned again, reaching for her.

Lydia screamed, and this time, it came out, loud, clear, and frightened. The figure lunged for her, gracefully soaring overhead as she ducked. It growled,  
an unearthly growl that froze Lydia to the spot. All she could do was stare straight ahead at this man, this... spirit, as it slowly made it way towards her,  
reaching for her. Lydia could feel her body grow cold, her breath going shallow, her heart slowing.  
"LYYYYYYYDS!!"

Beetlejuice came crashing in through the nearest window, into Lydia, knocking her out of the way of the spirit. The spirit let out a vicious growl before disappearing.  
"Beetlejuice!" Lydia cried, throwing her arms around him, sobbing into his chest. "I thought I'd lost you"  
"I thought I had lost you too, Babes," he said, holding her, "What an enterance, eh? What the hell happened? I saw you run into the fog, and next thing I know, poof!"  
"Beej... I'm just glad you're okay," Lydia whispered, "I just... I just wish I knew what was going on here." She began shaking uncontrollably, out of fear, and a new wave of tears came as she buried her face in his chest.  
"I'm here, Lyds, I'm here." Beetlejuice held her tightly to him, "I don't know exactly what's going on... but... I may have an idea..."

He explained to her about the Lost Souls room in Juno's office, there in the Neitherworld, and how it's usually where souls that have been exorcised end up.  
"Death for the dead..." Lydia whispered, "But... how would that tie into what's going on here?"  
"Looking at that spirit," Beetlejuice began, "It looked as if maybe the room has, well... run out of room. And there's no way Juno can blame this one on me, even if she tried."  
"Wait... out of room? Beetlejuice, is that even possible?"  
"Nothing is impossible. Just improbable. Just my being here prooves that nothing is impossible."  
"Point taken," she replied, "now... how do we get out of here?"  
Beetlejuice picked her up, cradling her in his arms, and turned towards the darkness. "We continue on, babes. That's the only thing we really can do." Carrying her, he stepped around the junk strewn on the floor, taking care to avoid the cold spots that dotted the inside of the building.

"Beej..." Lydia broke the silence, "What... what was that thing trying to do to me?"

"Stealing your life force," came the reply, "the dead of the dead are usually wicked beings, for the most part. It's in their nature to attack a ghoul in the Neitherworld, but if they caught scent of a living being..."

"But, why?"  
"Jealousy. They're jealous of the living, and of the once-dead."  
He put her back on her feet as they approached a door made of what looked to be scrap metal, random boards, and something that looked suspiciously like bone. A long, thin line of what looked to be blood ran down the entire length of the door, and from what Lydia could tell, there seemed to be one hell of a racket going on behind the door.  
Swallowing hard, Beetlejuice placed a hand on the handle, and pulled.

Lydia gasped.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N: In which things get stranger. R&R, hope you enjoy.)  
**

Inside of this room, the ceiling was no longer visible. Torches dotted stone and chain link walls. Whatever caused the racket was clearly gone now, leaving no trace of it's being there.

"Hey, where's the party?" Beetlejuice gaped around the place in wonder, "I HATE missing really good parties!"  
"It looks like a medieval dungeon in here." Lydia breathed. Their shoes clicked on the cobblestone underneath them, no longer just a plain dirt floor. The dungeon looked to be huge - the hallways stretched long in either direction, and even though the wall in front of them was nothing other than chain link cage with what looked to be open air behind it, neither could tell what lie ahead of them. Here and there, though, Beetlejuice noted, were green orbs, indicating cold spots. "Yup. Looks like those suckers are here, too."

Lydia was growing tired. She had no idea what time it was, exactly - it could be the crack of dawn, for all she knew - and her legs were close to giving out. She clung to Beetlejuice, afraid that she might fall over and pass out. She wondered if maybe that spirit succeeded in stealing some of her life force. Her breath was a bit shallower than before, making her feel even more lightheaded.

"Babes, you going to be alright?"  
"I... I think so," Lydia looked towards the poltergeist, "I just feel very weak, is all."  
"Hmmm... lemme try something," Beetlejuice poised himself for a moment, then he snapped his fingers. A small puff of dust issued, but nothing else seemed to happen.

His face fell, the tip of his tongue sticking out in disgust. "Crud," he murmured, "still nothing. Gaaaaaaaaaaah, it's almost like that one time I got all that money, but couldn't juice a damn thing! Only difference is there's no money this time around!!"  
Lydia giggled at this, remembering what had happened. He just couldn't stand not being able to juice, but this time, it was very dire. She stopped short,  
listening to the silence for any indication of movement. Other than a couple of cold spots that Beej had noted, all was quiet. Too quiet. Exhausted, she leaned against the wall, feeling her body slide down and crumple on the floor. The last thing she remembered was seeing Beetlejuice rush to her side, shaking her to keep her awake. A tiny laugh escaped her lips before she saw darkness.

Back at camp, Bertha lie awake, listening to the rain that suddenly sprang upon them. She didn't know what time it was, but she figured it couldn't be much past midnight. Prudence was out cold, apparently her fear of the woods had left her some time ago. Bertha stared at the ceiling of the tent. Something wasn't quite right, she gathered. Lydia had been acting weird ever since they arrived, and it wasn't her usual type of weird, either. It was as if she was surrounded by fear, almost. Whatever it was, it was very, VERY strange.  
Enough of this, she thought, I'm going to go talk to her. Climbing out of her sleeping bag, Bertha stumbled not so gracefully out of the tent, landing hard in the mud, but nevertheless, she made her way to Lydia's dark tent.

"Lydia?"

Pulling back the tent flaps revealed no trace of Lydia, except the faded footprints in the mud. The rain hadn't completely washed them away. She followed the footprints to the edge of the dark wood, where they suddenly disappeared, as if Lydia had vanished into thin air. Panic boiling in her chest, Bertha ran back towards her tent, and shook Prudence awake.  
"Prudence, get up!" Bertha gave her a shake, "it's Lydia! She's gone!"  
"Gone?" yawned Prudence, "whaddya mean gone?"  
"I mean, she's nowhere to be found. I followed her footprints, but, Prudence, it's as if the forest... ate her...!"  
Prudence sat straight up, and pushed her glasses onto her face. "O...kay. I'm tired, Bertha, can't this wait?"  
Bertha gaped at her. "No, it can't!" grabbing a protesting Prudence, Bertha ran from the tent, into the woods.

"Lyds?"  
Beetlejuice had been kneeling next to Lydia's motionless body, trying to get her to wake up, but to no avail. He could tell she was still breathing, but nothing he could do would wake her. Sighing, he sat next to her, resigned to keeping a sleepless vigil until she woke. He figured that she probably was just exhausted, and after that nasty run in with that lost soul.

He looked down at her, watching her sleep, wondering just what the hell was going on. Where they were, where they were going, and what kind of effect did that soul have on her. He took off his suit jacket, and carefully lifting her head, placed it under her, like a makeshift pillow. Granted, it probably smelled bad to her, but then again, she couldn't complain about it at the moment. He caressed her cheek for just a moment, before leaning back against the wall. Pulling a beetle out of his pants pocket, he crunched down on it, loud enough that it echoed down the hallway. He sat there, chewing, crunching -

"Beetlejuice!"

He jumped in surprise, turned his head to the right, and almost fell over at the sight of Juno, or, rather, Juno's head floating in a cloud of smoke.  
"What the crap?!" he muttered, "Whaddya want, Junebug?! You almost gave me a heart attack! ...If I weren't already dead, heh."  
"Cut the crap, Beetlejuice. Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you're in?"  
"Hey," he shrugged, "whatever it is, you can't blame this one on me," he turned away from her, adding, with a smirk, "This time."  
Juno sighed. "I heard that. And I know that, and believe me, if I could, I would."  
"Gee, thanks. You really know how to make a ghost feel loved!" he replied, with fake sappiness.  
"Shut it. Now... " she lit up a fresh cigarette, "I'm pretty sure you've figured it out by now."  
"No more room in the Lost Souls room, eh, you old windbag? How did you manage to pull off such a thing?"  
"Not quite. The room has a leak. Souls had been escaping into this plane for several years, now."

Beetlejuice shoved his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, right. Lovely." Taking out a beetle, he crunched it between his teeth. "And that's why we're in this bugged out plane of existance, eh?"  
"One more 'eh', and you might as well be Canadian," Juno retorted, "and yes, that's precisely why."  
"Answer me this, then. why is it I can't juice anything? It's driving me bananas!" He paused for a moment. "See?! Normally, I'd have turned into a banana just now!  
And do ya know why, Junebug?! BECAUSE THAT'S COMEDY!"  
"...Simple," Juno stated, taking out a fresh cigarette, "because any and all 'juicing' is negated in the dimension that the lost souls reside."  
"Great. Although, why I can still fly confuses me."  
"Lost souls fly. Why can't you?"  
"Ha, ha."  
"Enough chit-chat. You, Beetlejuice, need to get to the heart of this matter."

Beetlejuice smirked. "And why would you want me to do that?"  
"If you want the girl to live, you will."  
If his skin hadn't been pale already, it would've been for sure now. "What... what the hell, Junebug? What are you implying?"  
"She's stepped through one of those things, dumbass. As long as it's still free, Lydia's lifeforce will be drained."  
Beetlejuice glared at her. "I know that, I saw it happen! Although, not sure how I got back."  
"Wormhole. They're all over the place in the Lost Souls room. It keeps them from getting bored." Juno replied, "When the room leaked, they leaked here, too. "Now, get to work. And use some damn soap!"

Juno's head disappeared, leaving behind a very bewildered poltergeist.  
"I - DO - NOT - STIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!" he bellowed into the now vacant spot where Juno's head had been, "I DON'T LIKE YOU ANY MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!" Which is funny considering he never really liked Juno to begin with. Standing there,  
staring down the hallway, he sat back down, and turned to Lydia. Her breath was still strong, he noted. She should be okay, for now.

Sighing, he resigned to leaning against the wall. "What the hell are we supposed to do? Call the Ghostbusters?"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N - Yeah, it's me again. I'd been on hiatus until classes were finished. Anyway, here's the fourth chapter. Also, FFnet's formatting of my wordpad docs make the paragraphs look strange. Apologies ahead of time. Thanks!**

**

* * *

**

Bertha and Prudence ran, and ran... and ran, for what seemed like hours. The rain pelted down around them, as the night grew ever colder. Prudence shivered. "Are you sure she was gone? She's probably still asleep back at camp, like we should be!"  
Bertha's brow furrowed. "No, she came out here. I'm sure of that." She continued forward, ignoring Prudence's protests. At last, she stopped, right before a low building. It appeared to be half rotted, the wooden facade still someone intact, but Bertha wondered, for how long?  
Lydia's footprints led up to the door. This is it, Bertha thought, her flashlight's beam dancing over the ground near the door.  
"You don't think she went inside...?"  
"Here's her footprints," Bertha answered, "It's a safe bet." She crept up to the door, and swung it open. A loud creak issued, making both girls freeze in place. A lump grew in Bertha's throat, as she yelled. "Hello? Lydia?"  
Both girls stepped inside. It was like an old garage, with piles and piles of antiques and junk on tables, boxes, shelves. The door slammed shut behind them, making them both jump.  
"... I guess we go further in." Bertha said quitely.  
They pressed on further, their flashlights their only source of light in the dank room. Prudence's breath caught as she heard a squeak. "A rat," she whispered fearfully, "Oh, no, Bertha, this place is probably full of them!"  
"Calm down," Bertha snapped, "even if it was a rat, it's probably only that one, or we would've heard them running around in here by now!"  
They continued walking, the air suddenly growing very cold. Prudence's flashlight suddenly went out.  
"Bertha..." Prudence said slowly, quietly, "I get the feeling we aren't supposed to be here..."  
A low moan echoed throughout the room, and as the glowing green spirit descended, Bertha answered.  
"No... no, we're not..."

* * *

Beetlejuice opened his eyes. Oh great, he thought, I fell asleep! He looked down at Lydia. She stirred a little, and finally, her eyes opened.  
"Lyds!" He cried out happily, "You're awake!"  
Heavily groggy, Lydia lifted her head. "BJ...? Ugh... what on earth...?"  
"You're still tired, kid," he said gently, "But enough of that, we need to get the hell out of here,  
and fast." He hoisted her up on his back, carrying her carefully through the chainlink maze. He never noticed it before, but after finally getting a good look at their surroundings, the chain link walls were forming a maze, an extremely twisted one. He noted that there were no more green orbs floating around.  
A sniff of annoyance escaped him, and he trudged through. It wasn't long before he reached a door, just off to the left of the labyrinth. He opened it, and ducked inside.  
"What the-"  
The air was dark around him, the woods closing in so tightly around, he couldn't even push through them. It was as if the forest itself had created a natural tunnel, leading to god knows where.  
Speaking of which...  
His eyes rested on the door, just a few feet away. Slowly, he walked towards it, dread building in his stomach as he approached. "Beej?" Lydia breathed, "w, where are we?"  
"I don't know, babes... but I have a bad feeling about this."  
He stepped closer, the darkness growing around them, until finally, he reached the door. As he touched it, instead of it just opening like a regular door, it melted before him. Inky darkness was all he could see. He felt Lydia's grip on his shoulders tighten. Gulping, he pushed through it.

* * *

Prudence was the first to scream.  
The soul stared at them for a moment, before opening it's disfigured mouth. Bertha, without thinking, shone her flashlight beam on it. It shrieked, momentarily blinded.  
"Come on, Bertha, we got to get the hell out of here!"  
Bertha stood her ground. "No! If Lydia's in here, this thing must've gotten her, we can't let her down!" She looked fearfully on, as the spirit came around, returning to its assault.  
Out of nowhere, something was thrown through the spirit. It let out a bloodcurdling scream before vaporizing,  
and then suddenly, silence.  
Bertha looked to Prudence. Her chest heaving, she muttered, "I guess that actually worked."  
"What?"  
"Any religious symbol. I thought that only worked with vampires."  
Prudence's flashlight clicked back on. She shone it around the room. There were a couple of tables laden with religious books, rosaries, crosses, stars, pentacles, and the like.  
"Weird," Bertha whispered, "I'd never seen this many religious symbols in one room, let alone many different ones."  
Prudence picked up a star of David. "We're going to need all of them, Bertha. I have the feeling that isn't the last one of those... things... that we're going to see."

* * *

A graveyard.  
They were in a graveyard, or rather, on a road running through one. A massive one, at that. Tombstones lined this way and that, many old, cracked, mossy, and in some instances, even decayed. An eerie silence fell around them, much like the mist that began to permeate the area.  
Lydia's eyes grew wide, and she grew still, almost petrified. The mist was cold, damned cold, almost like the arctic. Her breathing grew ragged, as she felt her insides tighten in pain.  
"Hang on, Lyds," Beetlejuice called to her, from what seemed like miles away, despite his carrying her. He trudged forward, determined to find a way out of here. It was when they reached what seemed like the heart of the graveyard, when Beetlejuice realized where they were.  
They were in a part of the Lost Souls room. The part where exorcised souls first come after dying again.  
Fear gripped him, as he realized now what that meant. Lydia was in danger, and if he didn't get her out of there...  
As if reading his thoughts, a green tinged figure rose, one from every grave around them. Slowly, as if stalking prey, they began to circle the two. Beetlejuice pulled Lydia from his back, and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.  
"They won't get you, Lyds," he uttered, his voice becoming farther away, "I won't let them! Dammit, where the hell is Junebug when you need her?"  
Lydia, the cold piercing through her, let out a startled cry, before falling unconscious.


	5. Chapter 5

Bertha and Prudence, laden with the religious symbols in makeshift packs, made their way through the indoor maze, watching out for Lydia's footprints, and for those green spirits. Prudence shivered,  
feeling as if something cold had touched the back of her neck. Neither knew where they were, or where they were going. She wondered if Lydia really would've gone into this shack, but even she wasn't too sure she didn't. She almost collided into Bertha as she had stopped short.  
"Prudence... do you see that?"  
Prudence stepped forward, and saw it - a door, made of shiny ebony. She wrinkled her forehead in thought. It looked brand new, and obscenely out of place in here.  
"Bertha... I don't think we should touch it."  
Bertha, ignoring Prudence's protests, made to open the door. The wood melted away, as if it were nothing.  
Suddenly, a green spirit shot forth, gliding right through Bertha. She screamed, before fainting.  
Prudence was frozen in terror. Bertha was still... VERY still. She wasn't even sure if she were still breathing. Prudence looked back to the spirit - she noted that as it glided, it left footprints.  
Lydia's footprints.  
With an angry cry, Prudence, wheeled back, and threw one of her many religious symbols at the spirit.  
The spirit was stronger than the others, but only just. The symbol made a large, orange scar appear on it's torso, bubbling and frothing. Prudence readied herself for another assault, when Bertha, coming to all of a sudden, got to her feet, and threw one of her symbols at it like a throwing star.  
The spirit shrieked, it's piercing scream loud, long, and deafening. And then suddenly is it began,  
it was gone.  
"... I always knew you were a ninja." Prudence uttered. The threshold stretched before them, tall, dark, foreboding.  
Bertha and Prudence, nodding to each other, plowed through to the other side.

Lydia awoke in her room, underneath her purple, gloomy bedsheets.  
A dream... it was all a dream. Her unease had not given way, however. The dream had been so real,  
so solid. She sat up, and as she did so, a plume of dust washed out around her.  
She gasped.  
Her entire room was covered in a thick layer of dust, as if she hadn't been there for years. Her eyes wandered around the room, taking in the decrepit condition of everything she had ever known. A - something- sat in the far corner of the room, a figure of some sort. Lydia approached it slowly, the room seemly warping around her as she walked in slow motion, and then screamed when she got a good look at the figure.  
Delia. Only... not anymore. Lydia held back her stomach, feeling it begin to lurch. Delia looked as if she'd been there forever, her boney skeleton smiling the smile of Death. Her hair remained on her scalp, and her clothes were still somewhat intact, but everything else had rotted away, as if it never were. Lydia shivered, trying hard not to panic, not to scream anymore. She turned to her mirror, only to discover she, herself, had become ephermeal. Turning back to her bed, she noticed that there was still someone in it. Closer inspection revealed what she feared. That someone was her. As a skeleton. She was now a ghost. She screamed. Her head swam, as a sudden headache struck her. She realized now, she must be dreaming. If she were dead, headaches wouldn't even affect her.  
Punch through the mirror, she thought. She picked up her hairbrush on her dresser, and began hammering at it. Bit by bit, it began to crack, spider-like veins strewn this way and that. Fog began to pour from these cracks, more and more as they grew bigger.  
Lydia felt herself getting stronger.  
One mighty blow, and she was through. A portal stood there, fog filtering in from it. She could see herself,  
alive, in the graveyard, passed out against the statue. She took a deep breath, and heaved herself through.  
All went black.

The fog seemed thicker, as Lydia awoke. Beetlejuice was gone, as was all of the spirits.  
She sat up, her back leaning against a stone statue. She cradled her head in her hands,  
wondering where on earth Beetlejuice had gone. As the pain echoing in her skull finally subsided, she took in the surroundings of the graveyard. Despite it's horrid appearance,  
it was actually quite peaceful. It was still freezing, however. She glanced around, seeing no sign of Beetlejuice or the spirits... except...  
"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"  
She turned to see Beetlejuice, running amongst the tombstones at a high clip, a cloud of the spirits following him, hot on his heels, cackling in hellish glee.  
"Beej!" she cried out, standing shakily. She could hear his screams as he continued to run around in circles. "What on earth are you doing?"  
"I'M TRYING TO KEEP THEM AWAY FROM YOOOOOU!" he called back, tripping over a headstone and tumbling head over heels, and back to running position. Lydia grew slightly dizzy watching him running, until all of a sudden, spirits began to disappear, one by one, vaporizing and shrieking in the process.  
"What the hell?" Lydia exclaimed.  
In the distance, she saw Bertha and Prudence, warcalls and flashlights blazing, running into view,  
peppering the spirits with different trinkets. Lydia watched the chaos for a moment, and then,  
it ended. Bertha and Prudence stood there, chests heaving, staring down Beetlejuice. They had never seen him in his true form before, and yet...  
"Wait," Prudence said slowly, breathlessly. "Mr. Beetleman? What on earth-"  
"Nevermind that, guys. Uhm... how did you two get here?" Lydia queried.  
Bertha and Prudence began explaining to her what had happened. "And when we got to the end of the building, we came out in this graveyard."  
"And Beej, you said this entire place is riddled with wormholes?"  
"Indeed, babes," he replied, "Junebug said that the Lost Souls room was full of them, to keep the exorcised spirits from being bored."  
"I see..." Lydia said slowly, "... so how are we supposed to be able to seal them off?"  
Beetlejuice stood there for a moment. "Yes. And she also said... that the spirit you ran through has stolen some of your life force."  
A flood of smoke appeared just then, hovering above them. "I said that, yes." Juno materlized then, her arms crossed. "However... by the looks of things, she is better than she was. I'm wagering one of you girls must've killed the spirit."  
Prudence thought for a moment. "The same one that went through Bertha. It was somehow able to leave footprints."  
"Lydia's," Bertha breathed. Juno eyed them carefully. "Well, you were able to take care of that one, and several others. I advise you all to find a way to escape,  
and fast. It won't be much longer before you might all become permanent residents in the Lost Souls room." She wrung her hangs slightly. "My job is a tough one sometimes, I don't believe I have to tell you that, Beetlejuice," she stared at him, her eyes burning into his. "You must act quickly." 


End file.
